


What Are Partners For?

by Honyasbookshelf



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Forehead Kisses, Forehead Touching, Gen, Gen or Pre-Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Maka Albarn Whump, Partnership, Sickfic, Soul Eater Evans is a Good Partner, Supportive Relationships, Tender Soul Eater Evans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honyasbookshelf/pseuds/Honyasbookshelf
Summary: "'Don't go,' she said softly, blushing in embarrassment as soon as she said it. How could she be behaving so childishly? She really, really hated being sick.'You know I won't,' Soul smiled softly down at her."Maka gets sick, and Soul takes care of her. That's it.
Relationships: Maka Albarn & Soul Eater Evans
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	What Are Partners For?

**Author's Note:**

> Never before have I had any inclination to write a sickfic, but I was wanting some tender Maka and Soul interaction. This just kind of happened. Can be read as gen or pre-relationship. I ship them, but there's nothing specifically romantic in the story. No specific timeline other than it's after the main crew all become friends, and it's not during any of the big fights.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Maka awoke with a slight headache just behind her eyes. She decided to ignore it, pushing on through her morning routine—making breakfast, fussing at Soul to finish getting ready, going over her study cards one last time. They had a test today, and she wasn't about to miss it for a little headache.

During second period—a lecture by Sid-sensei on mission preparedness—she found her attention wandering and her vision blurring slightly. The pounding in her head was becoming more insistent. That was . . . worrisome, if only because her notes were likely to be inadequate, and she certainly couldn't rely on Soul for good notes. She glanced over to see Liz painting her nails, Patty drawing pandas, and Kid fussing over the arrangement of pencils on his desk. No help from that quarter. Black☆Star wasn't even in the classroom. Maybe Tsubaki would let Maka copy her notes? She'd have to ask later. Her gaze fell wearily to her own paper, where the writing trailed off into a squiggle. She couldn't bring herself to care nearly as much as she thought she should.

Third period saw them in a practical lesson with Dr. Stein, practicing soul resonance. When she and Soul tried to resonate, it was as though there were some strange feedback, and Soul recoiled violently.

“Maka, what gives?” He got right up in her face, pressing his forehead against hers, ignoring the stares of their classmates.

“Damn, you're burning up. Why didn't you say something?”

“Sorry. I- I don't feel so well. But, the test. . . .”

“We'll get Sensei to give us a makeup test. I'm taking you home.”

“No, I'll just lie down in the nurse's office for a bit. I'll be okay,” Maka protested, but even she could hear how weak her voice sounded. Her bones ached, and at the moment, the idea of just curling up here on the ground sounded good.

Soul snorted, ignoring her protests and dragging one of her arms around his shoulders to better support her. The trip home faded into a blur, and the next thing Maka registered with any clarity was being laid down on the sofa in their flat. Soul tucked a blanket in around here, and placed a cool, damp cloth on her forehead, brushing her hair gently out of the way.

She was already starting to drift into sleep by that point, but she could almost swear that Soul kissed her forehead lightly before placing the cloth there. The impression faded into her dreams, though, so she couldn't be sure.

The next time she drifted back into reality, the flat was silent and empty. She felt miserable and alone, aching and going from being cold to burning and back. Of course, Soul had left; he had school and other responsibilities. Just . . . she really wished he were here right now. Tears of sheer misery started pooling in her eyes.

Just then, the door swung open, admitting Soul, his arms full of bags. Maka quickly wiped away her tears, feeling silly. Her hand trembled slightly.

“Hey,” she croaked weakly. “I thought you'd gone back to school.”

“Of course not, genius. A cool guy like me wouldn't leave his partner all sick like that. I just went to get you some medicine, and um, chicken soup is good for sick people, right? So I got some of that.” He dug the mentioned items out of the bags, giving her some medicine along with an electrolyte drink.

He went into the kitchen to heat up the soup. When it was ready, he helped Maka sit up enough to eat. Her hands were a bit shaky, but she managed to eat on her own. She wasn't _about_ to have Soul help her eat; that was just too embarrassing. The soup was good, though, and she thought her fever was starting to go down a bit from the medicine. She was thinking a bit more clearly, in any case, although she was still desperately tired.

She lay back down, exhausted from the mere effort of eating. Being sick was the worst. Soul got up to do something or another, and she reached out to grab the hem of his shirt.

“Don't go,” she said softly, blushing in embarrassment as soon as she said it. How could she be behaving so childishly? She really, really hated being sick.

“You know I won't,” Soul smiled softly down at her. After cleaning up the dishes and grabbing a comic book, he sat down beside her. He started reading the comic aloud to her, and although it didn't make much sense—either because she wasn't looking at the pictures or because her brain was still fuzzy as she dozed in and out—the sound of his voice was comforting. At some point, Blair, in her cat form, jumped on the sofa with Maka and began purring. Maka drifted into a more restful sleep.

Sometime during the afternoon, Maka registered the sound of raucous conversation at the door. She peeled her eyes open enough to look that way and saw Soul standing in the doorway, blocking whoever it was from coming in. Good. She was too exhausted to deal with her friends right now, or her Papa. She was pretty sure that if Kid came in and started rearranging her shelves right now, she'd yell at him. Then she'd feel terrible for yelling at her friend. This way was better.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, smiling weakly, as Soul came back to sit beside her. He smiled back at her before returning to his comic.

The next morning, Maka felt worlds better. She stretched where she lay on the sofa, dislodging Blair, who landed on the floor in a disgruntled huff and stalked off, tail in the air. Soul stumbled into the room, cheeks flushed and face pinched.

“Soul? Are you okay?” Maka asked.

“I don't feel so good,” he groaned, sinking into the chair by the sofa. Maka frowned, reaching over to feel his forehead. Yes, he felt feverish, although that was no surprise after spending all day yesterday around her when she was sick. Oops.

“All right, partner. Trade places with me. I might have known you'd catch it from me. Well. You took good care of me while I was sick; now it's my turn to take care of you. We still have some of that medicine, right? Lie down, and I'll go get you some.”

“Noooo, I can't be sick. Black☆Star and I were supposed to go gaming today!” Soul moaned. Maka just glowered at him until he finally lay down. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder with her fist.

“Just rest. I'll handle Black☆Star. You can go gaming once you're better.” After all, what were partners for?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Any feedback is welcome. :)


End file.
